Mayo champions ease through to Connacht semi-finals
It was over quite a long time before the end as Ballina Stephenites handed London's Fulham Irish a 15-point defeat in Hastings Insurance MacHale Park, Castlebar, winning the AIB Connacht GAA senior football championship encounter by 3-11 to 0-5.
The Stephenites team showed three changes from the Mayo final, with Evan Regan, Padraig O'Hora and Dylan Thornton all unable to start.
In their place for this contest were Ciaran Treacy, Sean Regan and Jack Irwin, and they all played a part in helping Ballina into a commanding half-time lead of 2-6 to 0-2.
It was a slow burner of a first half, with the first quarter producing just three points, all for the Stephenites. Luke Feeney scored the first after a good move from deep while Frank Irwin (free) and Niall Feeney followed it up before Jack Goulding, Fulham Irish's leading player on the evening, landed the London champions' first score on 16 minutes with a free.
Fulham Irish were clinging on at 0-5 to 0-1 when Goulding scored a beauty from play, but they were dealt a blow five minutes from the break when brothers Niall and Luke Feeney combined to set Mikey Murray up for a shot at goal, and he duly found the back of the net past the despairing dive of Andrew Walsh, the Fulham Irish goalkeeper.
A late point from Frank Irwin followed by a goal for Niall Feeney put the icing on the cake, leaving the Mayo champions with what looked like an unassailable 10-point lead at the break.
And so it proved. The second period, like the first, was slow to get going but Fulham Irish, despite the deficit, remained game, and Niall O'Leary was proving accurate with frees, scoring all three of their second-half scores through placed balls.
Both teams rung the changes after the break, disrupting the rhythm of the match, but still the Stephenites managed to score 1-5, the goal four minutes from the end a thing of beauty as Sam Callinan made a surge through the middle before laying off to Ciaran Treacy who in turn found Conor McStay, the man who applied the finish.
Ballina Stephenites now march on to a Connacht semi-final but face a tough assignment against Galway champions Corofin next weekend.
Ballina Stephenites: D. Clarke; L. Golden, G. Cafferkey, S. Regan; C. Boland (0-1), S. Callinan, D. Tighe; F. Irwin (0-4, 3f), C. Treacy (0-2); N. Feeney (1-1), M. Birrane, M. Murray (1-0); J. Irwin, L. Feeney (0-1), C. McStay (1-2).
Subs used: J. Doherty, C. Sweeney, R. Geraghty, S. Mullins, D. O'Mahoney.
Fulham Irish: A. Walsh; D. Buckley, D. Rooney, F. Eastwood; P. Naughton, M. Clarke, D. Connern; D. O'Connor, C. Hughes; N. O'Leary (0-3f), C. Duggan, L. Turley; D. Eastwood, J. Goulding (0-2, 1f), D.J. O'Flaherty.
Subs used: H. Dockry, N. Corkery, J. Henry, B. Sheanon, J. O'Sullivan.
Referee: C. Ryan (Galway).